Mid-range is considered to be the most important area of guitar sound.

As “distortion” created by overloading the amp is used for guitar sound more often and the sound became more widely accepted, the mechanism that emphasizes the mid-range naturally increases as well.

In the 1960s, some of the amps made in the U.K. had built-in mid-boosters. This was passed down as the sound of foot-operated wah-wah pedals.

There are also a number of historic mid-boost effectors as well. The legendary overdrive pedals made in the 70s is also known for their emphasis on the mid-range.

The BJFE Purple Humper was originally developed in response to the request to make a more versatile pedal based on the mid-boost circuit built in to the Stratocaster so that it could be used with different guitars.

In developing the pedal, the 60s Stratocaster output level was adjusted to the output level of the 60s ES-335 and some more adjustments were made to support various pickups. This is a rare BJFE pedal that was merchandized in limited numbers.

One Control paid close attention to the sound this pedal makes. While there are many pedals that boost the mid-range, the sound of Purple Humper is neither an overdrive nor a half-cocked wah sound. It is not the same as many other mid boosters.

It actually provides a supreme British-feeling large output amp tone that has excellent guitar tonal balance instead of a mid-booster that extracts the mid too much and creates a muffled sound.

For example, the Purple Humper changes the not-so-solid sound of a clean transistor amp into a British flavored vintage sound in one spell. An exquisite clean tone that you don’t want to stop playing is the essence of what Purple Humper can offer.

Using the Purple Humper with a distorted amp setting and other distortion effects is an effective way to use it. When used with distortion effects, you can create a real, shiny and smooth guitar sound while maintaining the original distortion feature.

The frequency range of the Purple Humper is made to fit various music types that require distortion.

By adjusting the knob and combining with guitar amps, you can change the hard transistor amp clean sound into a shiny British sound, change the Stratocaster bridge pickup into a sound like a hollow body neck pickup, or create an 80s metal lead tone, or add heavier distortion with a single coil.

If you want a British sound, the Purple Humper is ideal for correcting amp and pedals as well.

If you need to use amps that are attached to a concert hall or studio, use the Purple Humper with your pedal board. You can simulate a vintage British amp sound and also make minor tonal adjustments.

It was tested not only with single coil but also with humbucker, P-90 pickups and active pickups to allow hitting the sweet spot with any pickup.

Why is the Purple Humper so controllable?

While it is naturally because of the underlying dynamic range and British attributes of the original sound, the single Blend control plays an important role in ensuring its high controllability.

Blend control panoramizes input and boost signals through the buffer. When it is at the minimum level, it hardly changes the tone but at the same time creates a BJF signature warm buffer sound. When it is at the full up, it creates a powerful mid-range boost up to eight times (+15db) of the input signal.

While the boost level is great, the Purple Humper does not raise the acoustic volume due to its nature, so you can use the full range of the knob without crashing the sound when combining with other distortion effects.

Like many other boosters, the Purple Humper creates different effects depending on the order you connect it to other distortion effectors at once.

You can connect in any order you line up but if you use it for the first time, we recommend creating a clean sound first before thinking about the order to connect it in.

Set the Blend knob according to your guitar or amp at the level that gives you a clean tone you can feel good with.

Next, connect another distortion effector before the Purple Humper if the Blend knob is located on the left side, or connect it after the Purple Humper if the knob is on the right.

In many cases, the Purple Humper allows you to experience a British sound while maintaining a familiar distortion effect.

Try different settings and find the one you like.

If you leave it ON all the time just like a preamp, it works perfectly as a lead booster or as a pedal to turn down an amp that is too bright.